All Governments Lie: Truth, Deception, and the Spirit of I.F. Stone

Although I follow politics quite closely, I have to admit I had only vaguely heard the name I.F. Stone. Stone, who passed away in 1989 at the age of 81, was a most influential investigative reporter, and published his newsletter I.F. Stone's Weekly from 1953 to 1971. I had no clue that it was a great influence on such iconoclasts and investigative reporters of today as Amy Goodman, Matt Taibbi, Michael Moore, Noam Chomsky, Carl Bernstein, Cenk Uygur, John Carlos Frey, and many others too numerous to mention.

Stone,by doing his investigations and digging into published documents, was able to debunk and point out the lies and spin of governments, the mainstream media, and corporations. Has it ever been more needed then with the current Administration here in America, as well as around the globe? It is so essential that others have picked up the mantle to bring transparency to the obfuscations and lies that those in power would like to keep hidden. I believe social media is also playing a role today in quickly bringing to light things that may well have been able to be kept secret for long periods of time.

Overall, this documentary, directed by Fred Peabody, stresses the importance of today's investigative reporters and the role and influence I.F.Stone played in all of it. As I see it, this is a most important film.

I. F. Stone, an animated and nontraditional American journalist, gained the attention of readers through his newsletter, I. F. Stone's Weekly (later I. F. Stone's Bi-Weekly), with his distinct combination of cleverness, knowledge, compassion, and incisive political analysis.

This documentary explores many levels of the Mainstream media versus the Media of the Truth... so if we need to summarize the main idea, the conclussion would be: lies served daily!

It is on all of us to read between the lines because these days the truth cannot be said plainly...

Execution: successful! Legacy of I. F. Stone, a man who said that his biggest contribution was being excluded, continues...

That's a direct quote near the tail end of this wonderful documentary on how all governments lie. Unfortunately, that includes most of the mainstream media many of us have relied on and trusted for our news forever. I came around a few years ago, realizing how skewed their views are and how untruthful they can be most of the time.

I really enjoyed the different first hand interviews with real journalists, who work independently for media groups that aren't part of the corporate world. Corporations and media giants are what's wrong. Particularly flawed newspapers like The New York Times, which took a beating for their reliance on sources that worked as government plants when it came to Iraq. You didn't have to be a brain surgeon to figure that out.

I particularly liked what Jeremy Scahill had to say during the piece, including some short but excellent advice to new journalists.

"If you care, your job is to be objective."

Most aren't. There is a lot to digest in the documentary. It's well worth the watch.

Let's be clear here. I.F. Stone was far to the left of the political spectrum. He joined the Socialist Party of America, a political decision influenced by his reading of the works of Karl Marx, among others. During the 1930s, Stone was an active member of the communist-dominated Popular Front. He decided he would do "no more fellow traveling" for the U.S.S.R. after Stalin signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. The very raison d'être of Socialism is increasing government power over the economy, to the point where government has total control over people's lives. It's such fascinating irony that Stone advocated giving more and more power to government, while going out of his way to prove how dishonest it is (in other news, water is wet). It's also ironic that today's leftists proclaim the wisdom and honesty of government-paid scientists regarding global warming, and denounce anyone who questions the government "consensus" (aided by their sympathetic media allies) as "deniers". In other words, an excellent example of "the mainstream media - all of it - being a bought-and-paid-for tool of government and corporate power" (to quote a reviewer's commentary on the documentary). Critiques of the likes of Clinton and Obama hardly make the documentary "objective". From the point of view of the documentary, their "sin" is that they still have some ties to capitalism. Corporate capitalism under the direction of the State to be sure (more like fascism, and having very little to do with free market capitalism), but insufficiently Socialist, and therefore "bad".

I have tried all the streamingservices, but none have it.